


Critical Drabbles

by Gemi



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/F, F/M, Gen, Look at start of chapters for warnings, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:42:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25082578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gemi/pseuds/Gemi
Summary: A collection of stories and ideas! Please read the warnings for each chapter.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. Female Caleb

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings; genderbending, female!Caleb. Nott/Caleb if you squint.

Her hair is longer than she remembers liking, tangled and dirty and more brown than red. She wishes she could grow a beard to hide her face further- but the matted mess is good enough. A bit of dirt helps, too. No one would look at her now and think of Brianna. 

Brianna was clean and proper, with shoulder length hair, patched but neat pants and too many books and a big grin on her face. 

No, she is Caleb like this. And, somehow, Nott never commented too much on the male name that she had picked out by accident, mind catching on a long dead uncle’s memory as she met those goblin eyes in the dark jail. At least Caleb is as far away from Brianna as one can get. It’s actually a bit of a relief, and most people are too polite to do more than blink when she introduces herself. 

She’s Caleb. Brianna…. is put away. It’s not a safe name, anyway. 

When Jester asks to brush her hair, she says no. When Beau offers to cut it, she says no. It’s too dirty, too long, too matted- but it’s fine the way it is. So much safer. 

Nott laughs and smears a bit of dirt onto Caleb’s cheeks, and Caleb smiles back and puts a dot of dirt onto the very tip of Nott’s nose. 

When Nott asks if she can make Caleb a flower crown, she says yes.


	2. Essek/Jester

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Essek/Jester, but can be read as platonic.

The parasol has a strange quality to it. Something sketchy, in the way of art. It makes sense, he supposes. Jester did draw it into existence, black ink becoming something elegant and cute all at once. Something useful to block away the sun with.

Essek drags a finger against the strange material. He wonders what it is made of. It feels like fabric, but not like any fabric he has ever touched. He wonders if Jester thought of something as she painted it. Or if she simply thought of his discomfort, and how to most quickly made it go away.

Perhaps both. She has a strange mind; thinking about two things at once hardly seems a challenge for her. 

He puts the parasol away, unable to fold it together, not sure how it is built and not wanting to risk it. Essek goes to his books and doesn’t realize until he is sitting down that his cheeks hurt, just a little. He has been smiling since he came home.

Because he is happy to be home, of course.

No other reason.


	3. Dead by Daylight AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beau/Jester  
> Warnings: Dead by Daylight au, blood, torture, killer!Jester, survivor!Beau. Non-consensual kissing.

“What’s your  _ real _ name? It can’t be Jester. All the damn killers here have- no one uses their real names.”

“Silly,” Jester laughs, bright, happy smile and cute dimples and pink eyes and too poking fingers as she not so kindly pokes at Beau. Right in the bruises, of course, and Beau bites back a groan and tries to weakly kick her away, “Jester  _ is _ my real name, Beau! Just like yours. C’mon, now, stop crawling,” she then scolds, drags Beau back by the leg, as if she weighs nothing. 

To Jester, she probably doesn’t. 

“Fuck  _ off _ ,” she wheezes. It’s getting harder to breathe. She is pretty sure Jester broke a couple of ribs from the last hit with that hammer of hers. 

Beau prefers the killers with knives. They at least cut cleanly. Not like the sledgehammer, gloriously pink from paint and with its handle wrapped in bows. The sledgehammer only crushes. It hurts  _ so _ much more than the knives and swords and axes. 

“Aw, but  _ Beau _ . You know how this works,” Jester cooes, and Beau fucking  _ hates _ how she pats her head, like she is some kind of pet. She would try and bite Jester’s hand if she could, but everything hurts too much. 

Crawling even an inch away was probably overdoing it. 

Best to press her face against the dirt and pretend it’s normal dirt. Not once in her life did Beau think she would miss  _ dirt _ . 

Jester giggles. Jester picks her up, and Beau can’t even struggle properly, not with how she can  _ feel _ her lungs fill with blood. The others are too far away to help her, too. And Jester doesn’t play fair- they all know it. 

She will stay there. Watch Beau bleed to death, wait for her precious ‘Traveler’ to come and eat. 

Beau hates  _ everything _ .

“See you next time, okay?” Jester says, cups Beau’s face as she hangs from the damn hook like a sacrifice to the  _ fucking _ traveler. She cups Beau’s face lovingly, gently. Beau hates that she is so pretty. Hates that it’s  _ easy _ , imagining Jester as someone kind in a different world. “Have a nice sleep, Beau! Say hi to the Traveler from me!”

Jester kisses her. Beau’s blood on her lips like the worst kind of lipstick. She snarls, and Jester giggles. She  _ always _ giggles. 

  
  


Beau dies, of course. 

But not even death is permanent in this hellhole, and as she pretends to not cry in the dark mist between worlds, Beau knows she will run into Jester again. 

She always does. 


	4. Nott reveals Early

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What if when Beau and Molly did insight on Caleb after asking if he had/has kids, what if they rolled just as high jokingly asking Nott the same question. AU where Nott is found out early on that she is a mom, but everyone are still convinced it’s a goblin child. 
> 
> Warnings: self-hatred, pushy friends, one-sided Nott/Caleb if one squints.

“Well, if Caleb got no kids, what about you Nott?” Beau asks, tipping her chair back, balancing on the back legs of it. The way she says the question is snarky and  _ haha-funny _ , the way the boys back home used to ask Veth if she  _ really _ thought anyone would want to kiss her. The way her brothers not so kindly teased her about buttons. Jester’s giggles, Fjord’s sigh, Molly’s snort- of course no one would think Nott has any children. She’s a little goblin girl.

She thinks about Luc and chokes back the affirmation. 

“HAH!” Nott laughs and she fumbles when she puts her mask back on, inches closer to Caleb, the chair too big for her to move the whole thing but it’s alright. They already sat close together. “Me! Kids! Haha, funny. Nope! No kids here!”

Everyone at the table grow still. They stare at her, and yes, maybe Nott laughed too loudly, too shrill. But the mask is back on, so it should be fine. They can only see her eyes like this. It’s  _ fine _ .

“Nott…” Caleb slowly says, and no, no- “Do you… have a child?”

“Of course  _ nott _ ,” she says, and it comes out hysterically instead of as a good joke, and she hates how they stare.  _ Hates _ it, and so she tries to make a run for it because that almost always works. 

Molly grabs her up by the hood and puts her right back on that chair. 

“You have a  _ baby _ , Nott?” Jester breathlessly asks and no, that’s not true.  _ Nott _ doesn’t have a baby, so why couldn’t she say that? It’s not a lie.  _ Veth  _ is the one with a baby, with a child now, really, and Nott isn’t. 

She ducks her head. Stupidly, she tries to hide against Caleb. Presses close and clings to his ratty coat. She can feel him tense up. 

Then Caleb wraps one arm around her. 

“We need sleep,” Caleb says, even though it’s not that late, “Goodbye.” 

Nott  _ loves _ him. She decides so, right then. Fiercely and grateful, and she clings so hard her stupid goblin claws  _ has _ to hurt when he carries her to their room, ignoring everyone’s protests. He doesn’t even wince.

“Thank you,” she whimpers against his shoulder once the door is closed.

“... it’s fine, Nott,” he says, sits down on their bed and holds her close, “It’s fine.” 

It’s not, of course. 

  
But maybe for a little bit it  _ can _ be.


	5. Female Fjord

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: genderbending, self-hatred, mentions of self-harm (Fjord filing down her tusks)

She thinks it would be easier, if she had been born a man. Easier to gain respect- deepen your voice, flex your muscles. Be deserving of it, act like a proper half orc that knows how to be civilized.

It’s harder as a woman. It shouldn’t be, she knows. But pretty women gain respect easier than the ugly ones and, well. Half orcs are never the pretty ones. She tried to file down her tusks and all she did was give herself more scars, and the fucking orphanage wasn’t exactly an ego boost for a scrawny girl with too big ears, too green skin and too big teeth. 

It’s stupid to even  _ try _ and look pretty. She still does, though. Even if the only job she can get is onboard Vandran’s ship. He mutters about how impractical such long hair is at sea as if he doesn’t have long hair himself, but Fjord just keeps it braided and tucked away and pretends she doesn’t hear. When she crawls back onto land with a strange sword and horror crawling up her throat, she buys a nice cloak. It has little swirling flowers on the hem. 

When she meets Jester who calls her pretty and asks if they can travel together, Fjord doesn’t say no. It’s the first time, after all, that anyone ever called her that.

Besides, Jester is cute. She’s funny. 

And Fjord is lonely.


End file.
